Born in 1969, the British/French/Israeli composer Nimrod Borenstein has been frequently commissioned and performed internationally, and also enjoys a busy conducting career. Judging from this disc’s contents, Borenstein certainly knows how to write idiomatically and effectively for piano. His two books of Etudes address specific techniques, textures, styles, and moods. Although his harmonic language is not particularly adventurous, the composer’s imaginative and fluent use of rhythm more than compensates.
The Op. 66 Etude set’s opening Ostinato, for instance, might be described as the bits and pieces from the finale of Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata that expand and contract like rubber bands. The Mephisto Etude starts with a deceptively simple left-hand “oom-pah” accompaniment underneath increasingly elaborate right-hand lines that resemble Lisztian mash-ups. Perhaps the Tango Etude gets overburdened by long tremolos, but the increasingly complex textural alternations in the Staccato/Legato Etude hold consistent attention.
I was especially taken with The Melancholic Mobile, the third piece from Reminiscences of Childhood. Here repeated phrases in the piano’s high register give way to rhythmic displacements that resemble phase shifting. Once the lower registers kick in, the music goes into scrambled Schumann mode, but eventually returns to the opening section’s simplicity. Likewise, high-register rhythmic juggling characterizes the disc’s closing Lullaby. My only quibble is that these piano works operate on similar and not very wide-ranging emotional levels, despite the composer’s unquestionable cleverness and facility.
Pianist Tra Nguyen seems to be an ideal advocate for this repertoire. She brings the three-dimensional textures to life through her masterful scaling of dynamics, astute ear for textural differentiation, and colorful pedaling. Pianists seeking technically challenging yet musically accessible contemporary repertoire that is both virtuosic and lyrical at the same time will want to check out Nimrod Borenstein, who enhances this excellently engineered disc with his own articulate and unpretentious annotations.
